Teaching evaluation booklet contains errors

Students registering for classes this coming semester should be aware of errors in the summaries of teaching evaluations compiled by student government.

The latest edition of the Associated Students of Madison Course and Instructor Evaluations booklet contains reversed rankings that make the teachers in at least one department, Afro-American Studies, appear to be ranked at the bottom of the scale. Attempts are being made by ASM to retrieve the booklets and correct the errors.

“Students should exercise care in using this resource alone as a guide in the process of selecting classes for the fall 1999 semester,” says Robert Skloot, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Although we try to insure that the information in the booklets is reliable, neither the university administration nor the individual departments included are responsible for the accuracy of the conversion of the data into the ASM format.”

The booklet is based on summary reports generated through departmental course evaluations. The booklet details ratings of instructors on a scale of 1-5 with five being the most favorable response in most departments.

The information comes from student questionnaires compiled at the end of each semester in each course. The data is obtained by the student government through requests to individual departments.

ASM officials say that they make the numerical summary reports available in a book form for greater convenience to students. The written “comments” section of teaching evaluations is not part of the summary.